Capitol intrigue deepens in stalled sex trafficking bill

Another day, another vote – and still the U.S. Senate remains mired in gridlock over an abortion provision in a bill championed by Texas Republican John Cornyn to combat sex trafficking.

A 57-41 vote to cut off debate Wednesday left the Republicans three votes shy of the 60 needed to break a Democratic filibuster. It was the second “cloture” vote in as many days, and Republican leaders have promised more to come.

As it is, Cornyn’s Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act has now been stalled for over a week as Democrats accuse Republicans of slipping unexpected anti-abortion language into an otherwise popular, bipartisan bill.

But that charge was weakened Wednesday after a spokeswoman for Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the Associated Press that an aide to the Minnesota Democrat “had seen the language” on abortion before a unanimous vote of the Judiciary Committee last month.

The spokeswoman, Julia Krahe, told the AP the unidentified aide “did not inform the senator. The senator takes responsibility for the work of her office and missing the provision and she is focused on moving forward to find a way to fix the bill and protect victims of trafficking.”

Republicans, however, waxed skeptical about Democrats’ claims that they were in the dark about the abortion provision.

“It seems Senate Democrats are out of excuses,” said Cornyn aide Drew Brandewie.

Klobuchar was a leading Democratic co-sponsor of the sex trafficking bill. An aide told the Houston Chronicle that Klobuchar learned about the disputed abortion provision last week after the controversy erupted in the Senate.

The dispute centers on a provision subjecting the bill’s new victims’ fund to the Hyde Act, which prevents the use of federal money for abortions – except in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother.

Some Democrats, holding out to remove the Hyde provision, have said they were taken by surprise, suggesting a Republican trick. Others have said that the language was simply overlooked, and that they weren’t aware of it until last week.

Cornyn, noting that the Hyde language has been a regular part of annual spending bills for decades, expressed incredulity at the Democratic explanations.

“I don’t actually believe that,” Cornyn said in a speech Wednesday on the Senate floor. “I know the staff on both sides of the Judiciary Committee. The staff generally in the Senate are highly professional people. They’re not going to let something slip by. But the reason they did, I believe, is because this language has become routine.”

Klobuchar, for her part, did not address her role in the dispute Wednesday. In a pair of lengthy floor speeches, she read passages from “Half the Sky,” a book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn about the global status of women.

“I am tired of looking back,” Klobuchar said, adding that she did not want to engage in a debate about who was to blame for the legislative standoff.

Both sides accused each other of using the human trafficking bill to score political points. “We know what the right thing to do is,” Cornyn lamented. “All of the senators know what the right thing to do is. But somehow, we can’t quite seem to get it done.”